Avsnitt
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In this special semiquincentennial event cohosted by Boston Review and Dissent, three distinguished scholars of history and politics—Adom Getachew, Aziz Rana, and David Waldstreicher—discuss their recent essays on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, reflecting on founding myths and unrealized ideals, revolutionary legacies and global contexts, and the ongoing conflicts over the meanings of U.S. history.
In these counterrevolutionary times—marked by authoritarian crisis and imperial hubris—the search for a useable past, they show, continues to shape struggles for a just future.
This conversation took place on June 29 and was moderated by historian Nikhil Pal Singh.
Further Reading:
“New Declarations” by Adom Getachew in Dissent“The American Revolution in Global Retreat” by Aziz Rana in Dissent“The Spirit of ’76” by David Waldstreicher in Boston Review“The American myth always came at someone else’s expense. Now, it’s all but collapsed” by Nikhil Pal Singh in The GuardianTo support work like this, please subscribe to the magazine or make a tax-deductible donation.
About the Panelists:
Adom Getachew is Professor of Political Science and Interim Chair of Race, Diaspora & Indigeneity at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination and a contributingeditor at Boston Review.
Aziz Rana is Professor of Law and Government at Boston College and a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is author of The Two Faces of American Freedom and The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them.
David Waldstreicher is Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of several books, including Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification and, most recently, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence.
Nikhil Pal Singh is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History at New York University. He is author of Race and America’s Long War and Black Is a Country: Race and the Unfinished Struggle for Democracy.
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In this Boston Review roundtable discussion, moderated by BR contributing editor Lily Hu, three prominent writers and scholars—historian Kevin T. Baker, anthropologist Sophia Goodfriend, and computer scientist Benjamin Recht—discuss the way AI is changing the way societies, individuals, and governments make decisions.
The panelists discuss the nature and meaning of rationality, how new technology is interfacing with old institutions, what popular AI discourses get wrong, and the consequences for politics, war, and social life in general. This discussion took place on May 5.
Further Reading:
“AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worrying” by Kevin T. Baker in The Guardian“The New Old Warfare” by Sophia Goodfriend in Boston ReviewThe Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us by Benjamin Recht“How to Lie with (Political) Statistics” by Lily Hu in Boston ReviewTo support work like this, please subscribe to the magazine or make a tax-deductible donation.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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A decade ago, Donald Trump was clear. “Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake,” he declared at a Republican presidential debate. “George Bush made a mistake. . . . We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East.” “I’m not going to start wars,” he reiterated on election night in 2024.
This February, the United States and Israel started a war with Iran, massively destabilizing the Middle East. In this Boston Review roundtable discussion moderated by BR contributor Alex Shams, four scholars of Iranian history and politics—Peyman Jafari, Ali Kadivar, Manijeh Moradian, and Naghmeh Sohrabi—assess the incoherent rationales offered by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu; the growing geopolitical, economic, and human toll; reactions from within Iran and the Iranian diaspora; and the fate of Iranian struggles for freedom and democracy “under the boot of empire.”
This discussion took place on April 6, two days before a ceasefire was brokered. An edited version of the transcript appears in our Spring 2026 issue, Forever Wars.
Further Reading:
“Iran After Khamenei: An interview with Asef Bayat”“The Catastrophe That Has Befallen All of Us: A war diary”To support work like this, please subscribe to the magazine or make a tax-deductible donation to BR.
